Woman Charged With Arson Following Massive Pasadena Building Fire

Prosecutors filed charges Monday against a woman accused of torching an abandoned building in Pasadena while people were inside, officials said.

Sylvia Juanita Arredondo, 29, described as a local transient, pleaded not guilty to felony counts of arson and arson during a state of emergency, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Ricardo Santiago said.

She was arrested the day after the massive fire, which ignited about 1:45 a.m. Wednesday and gutted the building at 170 N. Halstead Street, according to Pasadena Fire Department officials and Los Angeles County booking records.

She was taken into custody by a Pasadena Fire Department arson investigator Thursday afternoon following an investigation by the Verdugo Fire Investigation Task Force, made up of members of the Pasadena, Arcadia and San Marino fire departments, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian.

The abandoned building is known to be occupied by transients often and has recently been the site of another, much smaller fire, officials said. Arredondo had not been linked to the previous blaze.

Arredondo was initially booked on suspicion of attempted murder as well, due to the fact there were people inside the building at the time of the fire, Derderian said.

But prosecutors filed only the arson-related charges, Santiago said.

A motive for the alleged arson was not available.

The flames caused an estimated $100,000 worth of damage to the building, which has since been deemed unsafe and leveled, along with buildings on the property that had been damaged in Wednesday’s fire, as well as previous fires, Derderian said.

Firefighters arrived on scene quickly, as the burned building was just behind Pasadena Fire Station 3, Derderian said. It took firefighters just under 45 minutes to extinguish the flames, working from a defensive stance.

The fire caused significant damage to storage containers and equipment on a neighboring Pasadena Water and Power facility.

Arredondo’s bail amount was not available Monday afternoon. She was scheduled to return to the Pasadena branch of Los Angeles County Superior Court for a hearing on July 13, officials said.